Retirees Propel McCain to the Fundraising Finish Line

As the Republican nominee prepares to shift to public financing, donors at law firms, investment companies and in real estate join retired individuals as his biggest donors

ST. PAUL — Preparing for a general election in which he cannot collect private donations, John McCain vaulted in front of Barack Obama in fundraising from one of the biggest groups of donors in American politics: the senior set. A new analysis of the Republican nominee’s summer fundraising by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics has found McCain leading Obama among retired donors almost two to one in June and July, $8.1 million to $4.5 million.

While Obama has raised more total money than McCain this summer, McCain has collected more from larger donors in 15 of the 25 biggest-giving industries since it became clear who his Democratic opponent in November would be. Individual donors working in real estate, securities and investment, insurance and the oil and gas industry, as well as doctors and other health professionals, all gave more money to McCain in June and July, as did donors in other industries. Obama led McCain among industries including lawyers, college professors and other educators, entertainment and the computer/Internet industry.

Retirees, though, have given more money to the two major parties’ presidential nominees than any industry this summer – a total of $12.6 million in June and July. (August fundraising reports are not due to the Federal Election Commission until Sept. 20.) In June and July, McCain collected 64 percent of retirees’ contributions disclosed to the FEC. Employees of one Florida retirement community, The Villages, even rank among McCain’s top donors since June.

“After a long period of lackluster fundraising, the McCain campaign seems to have taken advantage of the less cluttered Republican field in recent months and gone to some of the traditional wells of campaign finance,” said Sheila Krumholz, executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics. “John McCain’s strong financial support from seniors recently mirrors polls that show that he’s popular with that demographic.”

As a group, retirees have contributed at least $78.5 million to the presidential race as a whole—all candidates since January 2007—and Democrats have collected slightly more than Republicans since the election cycle began. Contributors listed as “retired” in FEC reports are assumed to be senior citizens, but independently wealthy individuals of all ages may label themselves as retired when making campaign contributions.

McCain soon faces a shift in the financing of his campaign. “The clock is ticking,” Krumholz said. “When Senator McCain accepts the Republican nomination on Thursday night, he must stop raising and spending private money and rely solely on public financing from taxpayers.”

Like Obama, McCain has relied on bundles of money collected from individuals who work together. McCain’s biggest donor in June and July, based on $77,150 in contributions from its employees, was Citadel Investment Group, a Chicago-based hedge fund run by one of his major fundraisers, Kenneth C. Griffin. Employees of a Chicago law firm, Sidley Austin, pitched in $69,200. (Obama, who met his wife at the firm while working there one summer, remains the preferred candidate of donors there, however.)

Other top contributors to McCain this summer include the accounting and consulting giant, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, which also operates a lobbying practice in Washington, hotel operator Marriott and Wall Street banks Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch. A law firm founded by Charles Keating, who symbolized how political influence contributed to the collapse of savings and loans in the 1980s, bundled at least $50,000 to McCain’s presidential campaign, almost all of it in July. McCain was among a group of senators known as “The Keating Five,” who collected more than $1 million in campaign contributions form Keating and helped him fend off government regulation of his S&L.

Includes contributions from employees and families given in June and July 2008.

About the Center for Responsive Politics Celebrating its 25th year in 2008, the Center for Responsive Politics is the nation’s premier research group tracking money in U.S. politics and its effect on elections and public policy. The nonpartisan, nonprofit Center aims to create a more educated voter, an involved citizenry and a more responsive government. CRP’s award-winning website, OpenSecrets.org, is the most comprehensive resource for campaign contributions, lobbying data and analysis available anywhere. For other organizations and news media, CRP’s exclusive data powers their online features tracking money in politics. CRP relies on support from a combination of foundation grants and individual contributions. The Center accepts no contributions from businesses, labor unions or trade associations.

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